Couple of notes. Total recoil is easily calculated from gun weight, ejecta weight, and ejecta average velocity via conservation of momentum and the relationship of kenetic energy to weight and velocity. Note that there is no pressure term. Now, felt recoil is not understood well enough to be defined. It could involve rearward force, rearward acceleration, or rearward velocity. Pressure acts over the area of the base of the wad and becomes force. The force from the pressure is unbalanced and results in acceleration of the payload. The acceleration results in velocity. As physics goes, that is pretty straight forward.

I am not aware of any data that correlates any of the above to felt recoil other than total recoil. Some people could conceivably feel components of the total recoil, but that is yet to be proven.

Pressire in an enclosed vessel has no recoil. So, pressure has influence on recoil only as it relates to rearward force, acceleration, or velocity.

If the barrel were plugged immediately ahead of the chamber, I doubt that normal powder charges could generate sufficient pressure for a chamber burst. An obstruction burst is a whole different phenom. It is caused when the high velocity gas behind the payload is forced to slow down as the payload strikes the obstruction and has to accelerate said obstruction to payload velocity. The gas slowdown results in a very high localized pressure known as a gas hammer. A gas hammer will, indeed, burst a barrel. A barrel burst is going to be violent on a loaclized level, but there will be no increase in recoil. Actually, recoil will be reduced unless the payload is alread at, or near, muzzle velocity.


Last edited by Rocketman; 09/03/08 09:46 PM.